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Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Bruce Lee: The legend
By Skipojack
Skip the Heat
FOR all fans of the master of Jeet Kune Do, here's what the text generation should know about the ultimate Martial-arts expert of the 20th century named Bruce Lee.
If you're in your 40's now, at the time of his death, you could be playing "piko" or "biros" with your classmates in Grade 2. Then, you were an eight-year-old who would be running an errand to buy rice pegged at 2 pesos per kilo.
(While this article is in progress, I was conversing with my tech Lito Alga who surmised that maybe rice then was measured by "gantang"). But for those who grew to watch and breathe the Kung-Fu movie star's career, this one's a refresher.
The Chinese actor honed his martial art style called Jeet Kune Do (which means: Way of the Intercepting Fist).
A philosophy major who graduated from the University of Washington, Lee entered show business in the mid 1960s. He supervised the martial-arts stunts and appeared in The Wrecking Crew and Marlowe (both 1969).
This was before he starred in his own action vehicles Fists of Fury (1972), Enter the Dragon, The Chinese Connection and Return of the Dragon (all 1973).
His acting was negligible, but he possessed almost superhuman athletic skills he practically defined the fledgling martial-arts movie genre.
His past films including the one he starred in as a kid credited him as Little Dragon Lee, Siu-Lung Lee and Xiaolong Li. He had achieved recognition as Kato, the devoted sidekick to The Green Hornet (a 1966 TV series designed to capitalize on the wild popularity of the "Batman" show). Then, he'd get a salary of $400 dollars/episode.
A legend of Chinese descent and a virtual deity to a legion of enthusiasts the world over, Bruce Lee was born "Bruce Lee Jun Fan Yuen Kam" on the 27th November in San Francisco, California, USA.
He was born in the year of the dragon (1940) and at the hour of the dragon (between 6-8 a.m.). Married to Linda Lee Cadwell, he was the father of Brandon and Shannon Lee.
The circumstances surrounding Lee's death just one year after his starring debut were somewhat mysterious (he was only 32), and helped transform him into a cult figure."
So, how did Bruce Lee die? Here's an excerpt from a news item which told of that tragedy:
"Raymond Chow and Bruce met at the apartment of actress Betty Ting-Pei to go over the Game of Death script. Bruce complained of headache, Betty gave him a prescription herbalist pill called Epilguesic, he lied down and hours later was dead of a cerebral edema, or massive swelling of the brain.
Attempt to move the body from Betty's to Bruce's house exposed by Hong Kong critic Mel Tobiaas fuelled speculation of foul play. Original cause of death was listed as "marijuana poisoning," and was later changed to "death by misadventure."
In another item, it quoted" Bruce Lee, the actor who made a career of karate, kung-fu and other martial arts on the screen, died tonight! At Queen Elizabeth Hospital after having been found unconscious in his home. He was 32 years old. Police sources said foul play was not suspected but that an autopsy would be performed."
Bruce was finally laid to rest at Lake View Cemetery, Seattle, Washington, USA.
An estimated 20,000 people attended his funeral in Hong Kong. Normally restrained Chinese weep in public.
Interestingly, according to a news story, "Hollywood actress Uma Thurman was seen high-kicking and thumping her way through new movie Kill Bill in a Bruce Lee costume in 2003. The pregnant star did wear a similar suit to the late kung-fu legend that he wore in his last movie. Uma was wearing the yellow tracksuit of Bruce Lee from Game Of Death."
Actor Jason Scott Lee (no relation) starred in a 1993 screen biography, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. His son Brandon Lee launched his own film career in the 1990s, but died in a tragic accident during production of The Crow in 1993.
It's been 32 years since his death. Bruce Lee would be celebrating his 65th birthday this year.
(Email me @ skipo_jack@yahoo.com or text me at 0927.700.1607.)
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (June 14, 2005 issue)
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